On April 7 of 2010, President Obama signed House Joint Resolution 80
congratulating BVA on its 65th anniversary. The resolution had been
drafted and introduced by then Representative Debbie Halvorson
(D-IL-11) in early March and passed the House of Representatives on
March 18.
With major assistance from then Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs
Chairman Daniel Akaka (D-HI), the resolution was also approved in the full
Senate on March 26, the day before Congress adjourned for Easter recess.
Besides acknowledging the Associations humble beginnings and
65-year history, the resolution also calls upon all Americans to remember
National Blinded Veterans Day on March 28 in future years.
Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Eric K. Shinseki also
wrote a letter to Tom Miller, BVA Executive Director at the time, offering
warm best wishes to you and all members of BVA on the occasion of your
organizations 65th anniversary.
Secretary Shinseki continued: On behalf of the Department, and as a fellow
veteran, thank you for your service from a grateful nation and for the
inspiration your membership has given to all who serve in the defense of
freedom. Happy Anniversary and best wishes for many more years of success
representing blinded veterans.
Although as an organization we have commemorated this event from within and
rather privately since 2010, we have not invited our fellow Americans to
remember National Blinded Veterans Day on March 28. We wish to extend our
outreach this year by inviting our BVA regional groups, their chapters, VIST
Support Groups, and Board members to inform their communities of these unique
Congressional resolutions that permanently established Blinded Veterans Day
nationally on March 28, the day of our founding in 1945.
Please find attached a number of supporting documents to assist in this
effort, among them Blinded Veterans Day March 28 Proclamation.docx. This is
perhaps the most significant of all of the documents as it provides specific
suggestions to you, our members and constituents, with a sample resolution
that could be issued or passed by a local legislative body anywhere in the
country. We have also included a sample press release with an open paragraph
filled with xs in which local information can be inserted, copies of both
the House and Senate resolutions passed in 2010, and two documents that
outline BVAs achievements. Although both of the achievement documents
communicate similar ideas, one of the two documents lists BVAs
accomplishments in bullet form and the other document is a narrative history.
If the press release is used, local groups may wish to use a local contact
rather than Stuart Nelson.
Thank you very much for your collaboration in this effort to celebrate and
commemorate BVAs long history of service to our Nations blinded veterans.
Please contact any one of us if you have any questions.
> Paul Mimms, National Secretary
Dr. Thomas Zampieri, Director District 6
Stuart Nelson, Manager of Communications
Stuart Nelson
Manager of Communications
Blinded Veterans Association
125 N. West St, 3rd Floor
Alexandria, VA 22314
(800) 669 7079
(202) 371 8880, Ext. 316
(202) 371 8258 (fax)
